Financial services firm Wells Fargo’s $30m Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN²) has set aside $900,000 for 18 entrepreneurial-minded hubs to assist Covid-19 relief efforts.
IN² was formed in 2014 as a joint venture between Wells Fargo and the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory to support early-stage agricultural and clean technology developers.
The $5m IN² Channel Partner Awards fund was launched in 2017 to help IN²’s 63 channel partners in the US, including accelerators, incubators and university initiatives, that work with startups developing sustainable energy projects.
The latest funding was scheduled for September 2020 but has been moved forward to deliver timely support for the entities’ portfolios. It will be used to tackle the issues encountered in company operations including staff retention and commercialisation capabilities.
The organisations receiving the cash include Acre at New York University, AgLaunch, AgStart, Austin Technology Incubator at University of Texas, Brite, CCIA, Clean Energy Trust, Cleantech Open West and Daugherty Water for Food at University of Nebraska.
Imagine H2O, Launch Alaska, Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, MaRS DD, NCBiotech, NECEC, New Energy Nexus, Texas A&M TEES and VertueLab filled out the list.
